The People’s Treasures: Sharing Korea’s Cultural Heritage

The collection originated with Lee Byung-Chull, founder of the Samsung Group, who had a passion for calligraphy and began acquiring traditional Korean ink paintings in the late 1950s. At the time, Korea was struggling to rebuild after the colonial period (1910–45) and the Korean War (1950–53). Much of the nation’s cultural heritage had been displaced and exported illegally during those tumultuous years, and Lee, along with his son, Lee Kun-Hee, dedicated considerable resources to securing valuable Korean objects when they identified them in the domestic and international art market.

Kun-Hee—who inherited his father’s enthusiasm for art—along with his wife, Hong Ra-Hee, went on to greatly expand the family’s holdings in scope as well as size. The resulting, ever-growing collection was a testament to the Lee family’s passion for Korean art as well as their commitment to bringing that legacy back to its origins. A significant portion of their collection became the foundation for two private museums in Korea: the Hoam Museum of Art and the Leeum Museum of Art, established in 1982 and 2004, respectively.

In 2021, a year after Lee Kun-Hee’s death, the family made the decision to donate a sizable portion of the collection to the government so that its valuable cultural heritage could be enjoyed by the public in perpetuity. The Art Institute’s upcoming presentation of highlights from that gift is a crucial continuation of the Lee’s mission to preserve and share Korea’s cultural heritage, and I could not be more proud to serve as its curator and to share these wonderful objects with you, our members.

The 140 artworks you’ll see in Korean National Treasures: 2,000 Years of Art offer a rich overview of the traditions of painting, ceramics, and Buddhist art in Korea. They span from the Three Kingdoms and Unified Silla periods (about 57 BCE–935 CE) through the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392) and Joseon dynasty (1392–1897) and into the 20th century, and they have been selected with the aim of lending insight into how their aesthetics and styles functioned in Korean society. Among them are 22 works that are officially recognized as National Treasures or Treasures by the Korean government for their exceptional historic, artistic, and academic value. 

I’d like to introduce you to five works of particular importance in this landmark exhibition, one from each of the installation’s five sections.

The Lee Family as Collectors

This painted screen from the Joseon dynasty is an example of chaekgado, a uniquely Korean genre in which the elite literati (scholar-official) class indirectly represents themselves and convey their values and Confucian virtues by documenting the belongings they’ve collected. It is featured in the first section of the exhibition, which focuses on the Lees’ collecting practices—practices that likewise reflect their embrace of these traditional Korean priorities and aspirations.

Depicted in this screen are brushes, inkstones, and papers—implements for writing and calligraphy that express a high regard for learning. Other objects, such as antique items imported from China, including colorful ceramics and bronzewares, as well as fruits, corals, and scholar’s rocks, also appear for their symbolic meanings: Corals represents success, pomegranates symbolize fertility, peaches suggest longevity, and scholar’s rocks indicate an appreciation of the universe and of nature.

Ideals and Self-Expression: Painting in the Joseon Dynasty

Compositions by two of the most revered painters in Korean art history, Jeong Seon (1676–1759) and Kim Hongdo (1745–after 1806), anchor this section of the exhibition in rotation, with Jeong’s Clearing After Rain on Mount Inwang on view through May 4 and Kim’s Sound of Autumn assuming its place for the remainder of the presentation. The works will be presented alongside a selection of diverse genres and formats of paintings from the Joseon dynasty.

Clearing After Rain on Mount Inwang, an impressive landscape painting, is the first object that Lee Kun-Hee and his wife ever collected. It is notable for depicting a real location in Korea, rather than an imagined or idealized scene, as is the Chinese convention, and reflects the artist’s personal impression of the site.

Sacred Images and Texts: Buddhist Art

Art and religion have long been entwined in Korean culture. Among the objects made for worship or to aid religious practices showcased in this section are several gilt bronze Buddhist statuettes from the Three Kingdoms and Unified Silla periods, all of which are designated as either National Treasures or Treasures. 

This particular example, a National Treasure, is one of the earliest Buddhist artworks made in Korea. Cast as one piece, it depicts a bodhisattva—an enlightened being who vowed to stay in this world to help sentient beings—standing on a lotus pedestal and flanked by two monks in front of a mandorla (body halo). Most triad statues present the Buddha with two bodhisattvas; this one is remarkable for being the only surviving example featuring a bodhisattva as the main deity with two monks.

A Millennium of Tradition in Korean Ceramics

The Lees focused on collecting particularly fine examples of ceramics from each era in Korean history, and this section brings a number of these objects together to illustrate one of Korea’s oldest and most vibrant areas of artistic activity. For centuries, Korea enjoyed robust, prestigious, and innovative ceramic production, including buncheong ware, a gray stoneware with decorations in white slip (watered-down clay) native to Korea. This impressive example was made at a time when buncheong ware was available to the public, prior to its near-total loss following Japan’s invasion of Korea in the late 16th century. 

This example features a unique and humorous design: The fish, depicted in an exaggerated, cartoonish manner, demonstrates the freedom of expression that Joseon potters enjoyed. Fish carry various meanings in Korea, including abundance and fertility (as they lay many eggs) and vigilance in one’s spiritual discipline (as they sleep with their eyes open).

Joining the New World: Modernity in Korean Art

The Lee family presciently sought out modern works at a time when most collectors and museums in Korea paid little attention to them. A sampling of 20th-century paintings completes the exhibition, offering insights into the historical continuity of Korean art over the decades. 

The Joseon dynasty fell in 1910 with the Korea-Japan Annexation Treaty, and the artists who lived through the turbulent time of the colonial period (1910–45) responded to their adversities and new ideas through their art. While some worked to preserve traditional ink painting or modernize their practice within those parameters, others, like Kim Whanki, eagerly embraced the new styles and subjects they saw in Western painting. 

Kim’s painting Echo is a culmination of his journey through Korean heritage and Western modernist aesthetics. He was one of the first abstract artists in Korea, ushering in a new chapter in modern Korean art in the 1930s. While living in New York from 1964 until his death in 1974, he often reflected on his cultural heritage, and the dot became his visual agency. In a diary entry dated January 8, 1970, he noted, “I paint dots while thinking of Seoul.”

Korean National Treasures: 2,000 Years of Art celebrates the enduring spirit of philanthropy and marks the first time these works, charting the history of Korean artistic production over millennia, are on public display. As you encounter these carefully selected objects, I hope you will recognize the unique beauty and distinctiveness of Korean art and reflect on the continuing resonance of its cultural legacy.

—Yeonsoo Chee, Korea Foundation Associate Curator of Korean Art, Arts of Asia

Sponsors

Lead support for Korean National Treasures: 2,000 Years of Art and the Art Institute’s Gallery of Korean Art is generously provided by the National Museum of Korea.

Additional support is provided by an anonymous donor.

Corporate Sponsor

Members of the Luminary Trust provide annual leadership support for the museum’s operations, including exhibition development, conservation and collection care, and educational programming. The Luminary Trust includes an anonymous donor, Karen Gray-Krehbiel and John Krehbiel, Jr., Kenneth C. Griffin, the Harris Family Foundation in memory of Bette and Neison Harris, Josef and Margot Lakonishok, Liz and Eric Lefkofsky, Ann and Samuel M. Mencoff, Sylvia Neil and Dan Fischel, Cari and Michael J. Sacks, and the Earl and Brenda Shapiro Foundation.

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